"I picked a reward player? I was flustered"…Behind the scenes of Choi Chae-heung's nomination, which was revealed by the red horse
"I picked a reward player? I was flustered"…Behind the scenes of Choi Chae-heung's nomination, which was revealed by the red horse
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"I told you about the player's tendencies and things like that. I was embarrassed because I 'picked' a reward player."스포츠토토
LG Futures League coach Lee Byung-kyu attended the team's New Year's greeting event held at Jamsil Stadium on the 8th.
He returned to his former team for the first time in a long time. After taking the helm of the Samsung Lions' first team in the 2023 season, he returned to his former team after serving as a coach of the Futures League. It has been two years.
During the off-season, LG was entangled in many ways with Samsung. Pitcher Choi Won-tae joined the free agent team.
Choi was an A-level official in the FA market. Under the FA rating system, LG had to choose between 200 percent of its 2024 salary, equivalent to A-level, and 20 protected players, or 300 percent of its 2024 salary.
During the offseason, LG's bullpen pitcher lineup has become weak. Yoo Young-chan (right elbow injury) and Ham Deok-ju (left elbow injury) have been out for a long time due to injuries, creating a gap. The club chose to appoint a compensation player to fill in the gaps, and decided to seek help from Lee in the process. As the manager of Samsung Futures League from the middle of this season, he knows the rival team's history better than anyone else.
However, contrary to rumors, Lee's opinion did not play an absolute role in selecting players for compensation. He ended up simply answering questions from the club. After hearing Lee's response, the LG Twins named Choi Chae-heung as a left-handed pitcher.
"I told you about the player's personality. I was embarrassed because I picked a reward player," Lee said. "Choi Chae-heung definitely has one, but he hesitated for two years after returning from the military. If that part gets better... The team asked about the player's restraint or physical condition. I only told him that he is not particularly sick, and his restraint comes out late at 130 kilometers per hour."
LG has high expectations for Choi. It wants to immediately fill the gaps in its team by exerting full strength. It wants to add strength to the vacant five starting pitchers or to the bullpen.
"We have Woo Kang-hoon, Song Seung-ki, Lee Ji-gang and Choi Chae-heung as candidates for the fifth starting pitcher," LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said. "We have (Choi Chae-heung) as candidates for the fifth starting pitcher, but there is also a gap in the middle of our team's left hand. I think it's a mid-term duel rather than a long one."
Choi also expressed strong determination. "I will pitch as well as I did at the time when I recorded career high with 26 wins, 11 wins, 6 losses and 146 innings of ERA of 3.58 123 strikeouts during the 2020 season."
Choi Chae-heung, who met reporters on the day, said, "I tried to lose a lot of body fat. I like it because I feel light in my body. I thought I need to adjust myself for this season. Rather, I should use my strength, but throwing the ball is not difficult," adding, "The fans are very concerned and have a lot of expectations. The biggest goal is to continue to show good capabilities. I feel a little bit of pressure, but I have to overcome it. I want to do well again. I have such a big desire, so I hope you can support me a lot."